Water dripping off the walls.

[dudley]

Another way is to place a cheap box fan blowing into the attic crawl space which usually has attic vents.

This method is never advised as the moisture has the real potential to damage insulation & roof sheathing (think black mold).

An electric powered dehumidifier is the best method, followed by a dedicated exhaust fan to outside the home would be the second choice.

 

[swinneyw]

i've never had the problem but i've thought about it i keep a small fan blowing on the tank so far so good

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

This method is never advised as the moisture has the real potential to damage insulation & roof sheathing (think black mold).

An electric powered dehumidifier is the best method, followed by a dedicated exhaust fan to outside the home would be the second choice.

You've never heard of an attic fan? they have been used in homes for years to remove humidity, ventilate and cool the home. I have never heard from anyone in construction of an attic fan causing damage, in fact it's well known in the industry to substantially prolong roof life.

 

[dudley]

Yes, I have an attic fan in my home. It is still not recommended to run an exhaust fan from a high humidity area (bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, fish room) into an attic. I wasn't picking on your recommendation but in my area of the country, it is not recommended. Building codes in my location prohibit this type of venting.

 

[odinthejd]

How much water are you having to add back into the tanks?

 

[WeedCali]

IM SURE YOU COULD RUN AN ATTIC FAN IF YOU DID SOME DUCT WORK SO THE MOISTURE DOESNT COME IN CONTACT WITH THE ATTIC. oops caps

But that would be quite a bit of work.

 

[Bubbles2112]

You've never heard of an attic fan? they have been used in homes for years to remove humidity, ventilate and cool the home. I have never heard from anyone in construction of an attic fan causing damage, in fact it's well known in the industry to substantially prolong roof life.

Yah. But he's in Rhode Island and the coldest part of the winter hasn't hit yet. New England weather nullifies this idea.

 

[Chrisinator]

Yep. I have condensation in my room in the morning when I wake up if I leave my room closed at night. I have a radiator in my room. Keep all doors open so your whole house is humid.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

OK well you could try placing your tank next to the window and making your own custom snug fitted hood or wood canopy (waterproofed inside) make a 4" hole and use a small marine fan and flexible 4" ducting to the window open only enough (5") to fit a snug wood board with a hold big enough to allow the ducting to pass through. This should most definitely solve your humidity problem provided you maintain strict closure on the snug canopy and window when not feeding.

Hmmm?
"Yes, I have an attic fan in my home."
"Building codes in my location prohibit this type of venting."

 

[dundadundun]

are the walls cold? if so the problem is dewpoint. think of air as a sponge. just like anything else when it gets cold it contracts. at that point it can hold less moisture.

relative humidity is a measure of the percentage of moisture air can hold at a specific temperature vs. what it's actually holding. actual humidity is read as grains per pound whereas relative is given in percentages. and yes it can be super saturated.

it might be a good idea to pick up a thermal hygrometer (humidity and temp gauge) to help you decide what course of action to take as well as visit a janitorial supply warehouse and get yourself a cheap psychrometric calculator. google it if you need to. i have a cheap one made by pheonix restoration equipment.

anyway... dewpoint- that is the temperature at which a specific volume of air reaches 100% relative humidity (the sponge rings out so to say). so say your room is 70% relative humidity at 70 degrees farenheit. at that point your dewpoint would be 59 degrees. if your walls are that cold or colder any air that passes over them will release the water it's carrying. basically your walls will sweat or rain.

let's talk materials. typically harder, smoother, more dense materials stay cooler. there's no air pockets to act as insulators. so assuming your room is made of cinder blocks your starting off on the wrong foot. then also it's harder to insulate so it's a double edged sword. this is also why cold water pipes often sweat.

now the best ways to get water off a surface are in order as follows:
1 suck or pump it out
2 wipe or soak it up
3 the final stage... blow on it... yes, directly on it

what number 3 does is blows it back into the air so be careful... it can build up and compound your problem... then it won't weep... it'll rain down like a monsoon. if you think you've seen mold before you'll have another thing coming if you can't get that water out of the air.

now taking for granted you are going to think about getting that temperature gradient fixed by insulating i'll go on a little further.

i know not the temp of your walls vs. the temp of the room in general but that is most likely your issue. that being said (again) your best bet if you can't or until you can do something about that temp gradient would be to create a vortex blowing around the walls in one consistent direction with air movers or fans. think of it as trying to make a whirlpool in a pool except with air. the friction of the air will super saturate or suspend the water back into the air. assuming your room stays at a livable temperature you'll need a good lgr (low grain refrigerant) dehumidifier to keep things at bay with the fans moving. it's important that this dehu works as efficiently or better than your fans so start big with the dehu and low with the fans and add fans as you see fit. if the room is very cool- more towards cold you'll need a desicant dehumidifier.

desicants work similar to what star_rider mentioned... or like the little pouches youfind in new shoes, fish food, etc.. the crystals soak up the moisture. a unit called a desicant typically heats this back up to dry the crystals from time to time and has to plumbed out a window to get rid of the moist air.

lgr's are pretty much air conditioners reverse engineered. the warm air blows out instead of the cold air and the condensor drips the water into the pan below and are pumped out in the high end units or you empty the reservoir in the lower end units.

if you buy one with a pull out pan i suggest you drill a hole in the bottom of the pan and run a drain tube to a drain somewhere gravity fed. if it stops working because the pan is full and you're still running the fans and don't get home in time you could have a catastrophy.

if you were to blow it out of the house i suggest through a window or kitchen fan. no need to contaminate the entire house... and potentially ruin the structure. at that pint i'd still do the vortex. you'll want to keep the room semi warm too though so you don't get water building up in little crevices as it leaves the house then freezing and lifting and ruining things. it happens very fast i assure you.

is anyone understanding any of this? btw... i'd pick up my dehu at a janitorial supply joint also.